Twitter redesigns its homepage in bid to snag new users

Twitter on Wednesday rolled out a revamped homepage for its desktop site designed to encourage more engagement. While the old homepage served primarily as a login page, the new one now offers content from Twitter users, which you can explore regardless of whether you’re logged in.

“Today, we’re making a big change for the many millions of people who visit every month who don’t log in, but still want to know what’s happening,” Twitter’s Gabor Cselle said in a blog post introducing the new look.

So now when you hit the homepage you’ll see a list of topics, among them pop artists, actors and actresses, and business news. Click on one and you’ll be served up a timeline of tweets from some of the popular accounts engaging with that topic. “It’s rich, real-time content,” Cselle says.

It certainly makes sense for Twitter to make more use of its homepage, which now offers content to non-users who might be compelled to sign up to the service if they like what they see. It also increases engagement among those with accounts who aren’t signed in on desktop but want to dip in to see what’s happening on the social media service. It’s clearly a lot more interesting than being faced with a simple login page.

The new design is being rolled out to U.S.-based users first, and will land in other locations “over time,” the company said.

‘You may also like’

In another development, Twitter is reportedly testing a new way of improving discovery on the site. Spotted by Venture Beat, the new feature appears as a ‘you may also like’ column down the right side of individual tweet pages on the desktop version of Twitter. The column comprises five related tweets from people you don’t follow, the idea being that if you find their messages interesting enough, you’ll dig a little deeper and end up hitting the ‘follow’ button.

The company is always on the lookout for new ways of getting users to follow more people, which should lead to increased engagement throughout the microblogging service, something that would please advertisers no end, of course. Twitter said Wednesday the feature is currently “an experiment for a limited group of users,” so it may be a little while before it shows up for more users, if at all.

Social media is evil, leading to a mental health crisis in Gen Z and a rise in hate speech. But there’s light at the end of the tunnel, says Ev Williams, the co-founder of Twitter. But weaning ourselves off today's social media won't be…

Looking for a new show to binge? Lucky for you, we've curated a list of the best shows on Netflix, whether you're a fan of outlandish anime, dramatic period pieces, or shows that leave you questioning what lies beyond.

If you spend much time online, you've probably heard of Reddit. Here, we break down the terminology, perks, and inner workings of everyone's favorite social platform. Understanding the "front page of the internet" has never been so easy.

Instagram is shuttering it's stand-alone messaging app, Direct, after testing it since 2017. While the messaging features remain intact inside Instagram, the separate app will be discontinued in the next few weeks.

Instagram has made some changes to its Explore tab that might tempt you into the occasional shopping spree. It's also planning to add Stories to the grid, mixing them up with the existing photos and videos.

Whether you own a small business or have separate Instagram accounts for your five cats, we'll walk you through the process of switching between your multiple accounts on your Apple or Android devices.

We say farewell and fondly remember Grumpy Cat, the internet's famous frowning feline and a genuine sweetheart, who died at the age of seven. Even tempered and tolerant, Grumpy Cat was in real life the opposite of her online persona.

Selfies might be a phenomenon second only to karaoke, but they're not the easiest thing in the world to create. Thankfully, these awesome selfie apps for Android and iOS will make beautifying your self-portraits easier than capturing them.

This week a spyware attack was launched on WhatsApp. Now the Israeli firm linked to that attack is facing a lawsuit from human rights NGO Amnesty International, alleging their software has been used to surveil human rights defenders.

The British royal family is looking for a social media expert to help it communicate its role and activities to the masses. So if you like the idea of having the Queen as your boss, why not throw your hat in the ring?

As many as 49 million Instagram influencers have reportedly had their private data exposed in an online database that had no password protection. The database was apparently created by a marketing firm and has been taken offline.